Alberta Law Reform Institute Report on Wills and the Legal Effects of Changed Circumstances

The Alberta Law Reform Institute recently released its report on Wills and the Legal Effects of Changed Circumstances.

In it, the Institute makes a number of recommendations for reform of the province's Wills Act to deal with issues such as:

• changes that alter or revoke a will
• the current provision that all existing wills are revoked by marriage or by entering an adult interdependent partnership agreement
• the revival of a revoked will
• admission of extrinsic evidence to interpret a will
• rectification by the courts of any accidental drafting mistake made in a will
• failed gifts - gifts can fail for many reasons: lapse (beneficiary predeceased the testator), disqualification (beneficiary witnessed the will), forfeiture (beneficiary killed the testator), disclaimer (beneficiary declined the gift) and non-compliance of the beneficiary with a condition of the gift
• legal discrimination against children born outside of marriage
  

The report examines case law as well as statutes in other jurisdictions such as other Canadian provinces, England, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland.